Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

An Apopka couple is being kicked out of their home after losing an eight-year foreclosure battle in court. The couple's own records show they never missed making a mortgage payment, but their lender had a different set of books that showed otherwise.

Action 9's Todd Ulrich investigated how this happened, and why it should alarm anyone who thinks his mortgage company made a mistake.

The Mannino's have been packing all their belongings at the house in Apopka since losing the foreclosure fight. Mike Mannino said his American dream of home ownership just died. “We could not believe this was even happening. Never missed a mortgage payment, never was even late with a mortgage payment,” Mannino said.

Mannino said in 2008, a foreclosure notice that he claimed had to be a mistake arrived from Deutsche Bank.

Mannino and his wife has canceled checks and tax forms, evidence they said showed a mortgage payment was made every month.

Later, the servicing company sent a letter, admitting it had applied one payment to someone else's account.

Two years later, another servicing company took over. Its spreadsheets showed the couple had missing payments. The Manninos were again fighting to keep their house.

“This is not right. This is not right. Somebody's got to help us,” Mannino said.

Mannino’s attorney won a court ruling and the appeal that followed.

It forced the servicing company to produce electronic records that Mannino claimed would show they made every payment. But then the servicing company didn’t turn over the records. “They said they were either lost, stolen or accidentally destroyed (and I think) it’s an absolute lie,” Mannino said.

The servicer was found in contempt of court, but in the foreclosure trial, the judge ruled the lender’s paper records were good enough.

The Manninos lost the trial, and their appeal failed just last month.

Mannino’s attorney, Robert Rasch, said that because the appeal was denied without an opinion, the couple has hit a legal dead end. “I think they were wronged. It is incredible and very hard to believe,” Rasch said.

Deutsche Bank did not respond to our questions.

In court, the bank said its records showed several missing payments but it never provided the electronic version of the records.

CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)

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